She shot to her feet, clutching the notepad to her chest. “I’ve got enough for the article,” she said quickly. “Thanks for the interview. I’ll let myself out.”

Then she was out the door, in her car and heading to the office, leaving Elijah Lockwood at the kitchen table, smug as a cat with the cream.

The bastard.

CHAPTER 6

He shouldn’t have said it. He really shouldn’t have. But, damn it, with her looking so fresh and pretty, asking him about the state of his love life, Eli couldn’t resist. He shouldn’t have provoked her, but it had certainly been worth it, especially when interest had sparked in her eyes before she’d fled from the house. Aria wasn’t as immune to him as she pretended to be. And, shit, he wasn’t immune to her either. He just crossed his fingers that teasing her didn’t come back to bite him in the ass, either in private or in a newspaper headline. For a few minutes there, he’d forgotten the power she wielded as a member of the press.

Eli shook his head, dispelling all thoughts of the sexy journalist. He had a lot of things to do today; he couldn’t afford to waste time fantasizing about her or worrying what she might do with the information he’d given her. Since he’d decided to stay in Itirangi to see this project out, he’d had to make arrangements for Therese, who was staying with him for the last month of summer. She’d be arriving later in the day to join him, and he needed to prepare a bedroom for her. Being a multimillionaire, he’d thought he was above menial chores like cleaning and airing out a rambling villa; however, in his haste to get to Itirangi, he hadn’t brought any staff with him. But he could manage to look after himself for a few months. Surely.

Therese would no doubt interfere with the work he had planned, but her coming here couldn’t be avoided. Their parents had already arranged to fly her down. Frances, his mother, would drop her off on her way to a business meeting in Dunedin.

He’d seen very little of Therese over the last ten years. They were strangers to each other, but, apparently, she’d become unruly and difficult for his parents to handle. They hoped spending time with Eli would improve her, which amused him since he was such a disappointment to them. Everyone knew they were grooming Therese to take over the family business. The fact that they had sunk low enough to ask him for help was telling. The situation must be dire.